Danny Biega Named ECAC Hockey Player of the Year Finalist

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Junior Danny Biega of
the Harvard men’s hockey team has been named one of two
finalists for the ECAC Hockey Player of the Year award, the league
office has announced.

It is the second ECAC postseason award nomination for Biega, who
is also up for Best Defensive Defenseman. The other finalist for
Player of the Year is Colgate forward Austin Smith. The winner will
be announced at the league’s awards banquet Thursday in
Atlantic City, N.J. The finalists and winner were selected by
voting by the 12 ECAC Hockey head coaches.

With 34 points on 10 goals and 24 assists in 32 games, Biega is
the nation’s second-leading scorer among defensemen with 1.06
points per game. The Montreal native and Carolina Hurricanes draft
pick helped Harvard hold 15 of its final 16 league opponents to
three goals or fewer, limit eight of the final 13 to two goals or
fewer and rank fourth in ECAC Hockey in scoring defense.

In addition to leading ECAC Hockey defensemen in league scoring
with 23 points, Biega has provided shutdown defense as half of the
Crimson’s top blue-line pair. He led Harvard with a +10
rating in ECAC games and, despite seeing more ice time than any
other Harvard player, was on the ice for only nine even-strength
goals against in 22 league games. He logged a plus or even rating
in 17 ECAC games and is a team-high +12 overall.

The Crimson (12-9-11, 8-5-9 ECAC Hockey), ranked 19th nationally
and seeded third in the ECAC Hockey Championship, will meet
13th-ranked, second-seeded Cornell in Saturday’s league
semifinals. The winner will advance to Saturday’s final. Tickets
are available at Ticketmaster.com.